A beloved family dog’s battered corpse was found with a taunting note attached to its tiny body that read: “We beat it to death lol!”

Fox the Pomeranian vanished after he was allowed out the back of the apartment block he shared with his owner’s Ronald Boisvert and Varline Bartheleny in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

“It wasn’t just a dog or pet, it was family,” Bartheleny told the CBS Miami TV station. “If someone could do that to a dog, just imagine what it could escalate to,” she said.

She added that she was cooking and didn’t want to burn the food, but when she went out to call him, the 13-year-old dog was nowhere to be seen.

It wasn’t until the next day that a “frantic” neighbour made the gruesome discovery on the back porch of their apartment.

“WE BEAT IT 2 Death lol,” said the note attached to Fox’s body, with an evil smiley face drawn next to it. “HAHAHA!”

“It was just horrifying,” said Bartheleny. “I just started crying.”

Although the dog had no visible injuries the couple took the dog’s body to a vet who found that Fox had a broken spine and jaw as well as cracked ribs and a ruptured stomach, according to the WSVN TV station.

“He had to have punctured lungs,” Dr Ron Ridge told the station. “Because there was air all underneath the skin.”

Calling the note “alarming” Pembroke Pines Police Major, Carlos Bermudez said that it had become a “very active investigation.”

For Bartheleny questions remain about who or why someone would want to kill a beloved family pet.

“Fox was like one of my kids,” she said. “I've had him for a long time. It hurts.”